All the Hero Motocorp Riders in the top-10 in the Prelude phase of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

Hero Motocorp is probably the only Indian automobile company that is aggressively pushing the rally scene in India and representing the country in Dakar and other international rallies.

Hero MotoSports Team Rally kicked up its campaign at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (ADDC) 2022, the second round of the newly established FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship.

The team is back in action with fresh focus, enthusiasm, and a strengthened crew after a historic campaign in the Dakar Rally earlier this year, which included their first-ever Dakar stage win.

Riders Joaquim Rodrigues, Franco Caimi, and the most recent addition to the team, Ross Branch, will represent the pack in Abu Dhabi. The three riders in the Rally GP class, Caimi, Branch, and Joaquim Rodrigues completed the Prologue stage in 4th, 5th, and 6th place, respectively, documenting a strong start to the five-day race.

Hero MotoSports Team rally rider Joaquim said, “It was a really difficult stage for me today, it was very fast, the sun was too bright, we couldn’t see anything! I couldn’t find my rhythm at all in the beginning but slowly started gaining my pace and then focused on finishing the stage without making any mistakes. I’m happy that we finally ended up with a good result.”

Hero MotoSports Rally Team emerged as winners of the second stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2022. The newest member of the team, Ross Branch delivered an ultimate performance and won the second stage of the rally, after crashing the first stage.

Franco and Rodrigues too underwent a lot of stress and exhaustion during the entire tournament, yet they managed to finish in eighth and ninth positions respectively.

However, Ross is still getting familiar with the Hero 450 Rally bike. The previous crash made Ross vulnerable and physically weak, still his superb comeback has boosted the morale of the entire team.

Needless to say, with the new lineup, Hero is looking at a bright future in other international rallies.